Simply one of the most outstanding and loved racehorses of all time, Dessie had the lot. His victory in the 1989 Gold Cup was probably one of the most memorable, of all the great races Cheltenham has ever witnessed. Desert Orchid was the most popular race horse in training, bar none. His victories in the King George at Kempton ensured that, but racing round Kempton Park and racing round Cheltenham are two totally different things.
Come race day, i must admit, i doubted whether Dessie could win. It was a vile day and the going was heavy as heavy could be. It was more like a bog. As the race unfolded the main danger to Dessie was the 66/1 shot Yahoo, who even going over the last looked to be going the better, but neither Dessie or jockey Simon Sherwood would give up and, as we all know, he drove Dessie up the Cheltenham hill to win. It was a performance that showed off all of his qualities in abundance. Desert Orchid just hated to loss, it was as simple as that. Our race action photo shows Desert Orchid and Simon Sherwood on his way to victory.
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